Beautiful Inos, rightful Queen of Krasnegar, and her great-aunt, Princess Kadolan (not nearly as fuddy duddy and scatterbrained as she often appears) have been magically spirited away to Zark (where the Djinns live -- the Arabian Nights come to life) and dropped will she nill she into the middle of a rather nasty and dangerous palace intrigue etween the rightful Sultan and the "Sultana" a powerful sorceress who has displaced him and rules him and his land through her sorcery, which has a strong sexual element -- her spell on him causes his merest touch to burn the flesh of anything female (except the sorceress herself) like red-hot iron.

Rasha, the sorceress, hopes to use Inos in a political game among the Wardens, the four powerful sorcerors who control the world's sorcery under the Compact.

Inos, though apalled by the treatment and place of women in Zark, sets out to make an ally of Azak, the Sultan, in an attempt to thwart Rasha.

Meanwhile, Rap the faithful stableboy, Little Chicken, and the Gang (those who have read the previous book will understand that reference, a fuller explication would be a spoiler if you haven't read the previous book yet) find themselves in Faerie, where Much Is Not As It Seems, and Rap meets Captain Gathmore, a genuine berserker Jotunn (Norse/Viking) who will be important for the rest of the series.

Caught in a magical trap set for those who know Words of Power, Rap learns a little more both about the Words themselves and about magic and sorcery -- i always like the explanation that sorcery is permanent, magic fades sooner or later after the magician turns his attention away, but the end result is often the same -- a mage explains: "I could turn your head into an anvil. It would be a temporary anvil, but you'd be permanently dead."

Rap and Little Chicken manage to escape and join Gathmore's jotunn crew and escape Faerie.

Both Rap and Inos seem to be on their way to saving themselves and making progress toward saving the other -- but the book ends with disasterous reverses for both.

With two more books to go, all looks hopeless.

But, like all good serials, the next chapter will save us from this cliffhanger and give us even more more thrills, chills and adventure...

Although there are a few cliched characters in the book, the main cast is a well-rounded bunch that came alive for me. Duncan examines questions of honor and loyalty -- personal loyalty vs. loyalty to the crown -- in the midst of a compelling story.

The setting of the world is one of the most unique I have come across in a long time and for that alone I had to go back and reread the novel.

All-in-all, I would strongly recommend picking up Shadow -- you won't be dissappointed.

Like Sir Stalwart, the first installment of the King's Daggers series, every page crackles to life with deeds of derring-do, courage and folly in almost equal portions, and the growing friendship/reliance between Wart and Emerald (although they'd be loathe to admit it). From the opening treachery to the introduction of Wart's tortured Ironhall friend, Badger, to the nail-biting conclusion, the story is borne along on a theme of loyalty.

Again, in writing for a young adult audience, author Dave Duncan sacrifices little in the way of the characteristic wit, action and sheer delightful storytelling that adult fans have come to expect. Stalwart and Emerald are among the most engaging characters to spring from Duncan's pen, reminicient of the young Rap and Inosolan in a previous series "A Man of His Word."

Yes, it is a young adult book and so it's shorter than the books in the adult series, but it's also true that good things come in small packages. I can't wait for volume three, Silvercloak.

The Tales of the Kings Blades is one of the best and most fun trilogies I have read. The weaving of the story and tying up of the the different storylines in the previous two volumes is masterful.

In _Sky of Swords_ Dave Duncan has told the story of one of the strongest and most admirable women in fantasy fiction, the Princess Malinda. She is strong, sacrifices, fights and is admirable in many ways. We meet more of the Blades that were minor and outside characters in previous books. SoS (and the whole trilogy) has everything a reader expects in a fantasy tale: amazing sword fights, magic and great characters.

Duncan handled the ending (and the whole trilogy, for that matter) as deftly as the blades handled their swords tying SoS back to the first book and nice way. If Duncan returned to tell more Tales of the King's Blades, he could do so easily and not take anything away from the story he told in this trilogy.

If you want to read about a story with strong, believable characters; that gets you turning the pages rapidly; and that will leave you clamoring for more, read this trilogy!

In "Future Indefinite", Edward Exeter sets out to deliberately fulfil the prophecies of the Filoby testament and 'bring death to Death'. His progress through the land and the prophecy as an increasingly (and deliberately) messianic figure (with some surprising overtones of the gospels) is among the most evocative and compelling of Duncan's writing. The central dilemna of the character is maintained with absolute consistency throughout (namely, how to defeat Zath without performing even worse deeds to acquire more mana), but despite the absolute internal logic of the text, Duncan somehow manages to spring a totally surprising but eminently satisfying ending (which is obvious in retrospect, but impossible to anticipate).

Basically, read this book now. Read the first two books in the series (they're worth reading in their own right, but essential as a prelude to this masterpiece), but be prepared for something special with this book. Fantasy at its best.

I just read the whole trilogy. This portion of it takes place almost entirely in Nextdoor, the alternate universe where humans from our world can achieve godhood if the natives believe in them. By the time we get to the events in this book, all the main characters are in place and it's just a matter of marching them to their destinies. Because of that, there isn't as much soul searching and internal challenge and drama as there was in the first two books, except for the characters of Julian and Dosh, one of whom is the sole discordant note among the followers, and the other who has a destiny that's not understood until the end. Both of their stories were very good.

Another aspect of the story that I found interesting was the way the plot develops into a copy of Christ's life, with some things switched about. Examining the differences and the parallels that Duncan chose was intriguing.

Spoilers below...

Regarding the ending which some have complained about, I didn't think it was vague in the least. It was obvious to me what happened (Judas became the Redeemer and vice versa). The true hero and Liberator wasn't the one who survived, but his friend whom he betrayed. I think it will take a re-read for all the implications to sink in. But it does mean the Happy Ending wasn't so happy as it appeared to be.

It was, however, satisfying.